Wednesday, December 3, 2008

List of sites covered to date - these are only the game sites; any others are not included though half the post may be dedicated to them :) Use the tags to search for sites by age group - here they are, on the right :)

When your kid asks about pregnancy - yours or somebody else's, in a public place, what do you do?

a. shush, tell her 'will talk later'b. distract herc. answer the question in briefd. remind her of an earlier similar discussion eg. about digestion, and promise more for latere. apologize to the junta?

Seems to me that lately the only reason I sign on to blogger is to check the dashboard for blogs I am following. By the time I have finished reading them, (and commenting), I don't have any time left over to do my own blog. So today, when Christina asked how to answer her son's "how did the baby get inside your tummy" question, and I couldn't remember the site just then, I figured I could do make a post about this finally after months of planning, er, pondering, er, procastinating. Only, my memory is too much of a leaky sieve to be trusted. That I couldn't remember the site was bad enough, but that the site is not answering her question at all is worse! To tell the truth, we went through it all only once, and I had retained an impression of a 'really useful site'. Sorry Christina, but perhaps someone else will find this useful anyway!Anyway, here we are at BBC's Family time. It is linked from cbeebies site (under grown ups), so if you have been there, perhaps you already know about it. It is also linked from the BBC parenting site which you might have explored. I have not explored the site well enough to tell you all about it. And indeed it is hardly relevant for this blog, so we'll focus on the things that interest us. Or, well, kids.

First, the Mummy's pregnant animations. These are very short animation segments in a month by month format, explaining how the embyo is growing in mummy's body, culminating in birth. The narrator is supposed to be a small boy who is talking about his newborn sister. The details are accurate, and the summarization adequate. However, the information is rather too sketchy - most kids over 5 years of age will want to know more. Especially the how did it all begin part, on which it is prudently silent. Apart from that, it is a nice tool to use to help your kid feel involved in your pregnancy, and to keep them updated regarding progress...

There are a couple of games of course, and changing links to other games on the BBC site. Teatime racers is about picking the 'right' food to win in a race, as opposed to junk food. But it is slightly marred by the fact that unless you choose all the junk foods first, your child has a good chance of picking a mixed bag, thus leaving a mixed bag for you as well - and in that case, nobody is a clear winner, and there is no clear cut 'this food is right, and this is wrong' message for the child. Robot's recipes is to do with helping the robot make some recipes in the kitchen, with the idea that you and your kid can then make these very same things yourself :) Fun game.

Watch and learn section has some animations regarding food, and some real videos of kids talking of favourite foods etc. As at the cbeebies site, the videos are small and poor quality, and still take forever to load. That, coupled with the inference that I was trying to get some 'nutritional information' across, sent my kid scrambling to another site! Nevertheless, you may find it interesting.

There are also sections on 'learning activities' appropriate for your child and 'parties and charts': take a look.

Many parents feel uncomfortable or embarrassed talking about sex, but there are some ways to make it easier:

Start early. You'll find it less awkward if you introduce the topic when your child is very young. Answer questions simply and naturally.

Use everyday situations to start conversations. TV programmes are often a good opportunity to talk about relationships, or talk when you're doing something like the washing up. This makes your child feel that sex is a normal part of family life and not a special subject.

Have books or leaflets for your child to read, or you to look at together. See below for our list of resources.

Have a line up your sleeve for difficult moments, such as: "That's a good question, let's talk about it when we get home." And make sure you do.

Ask your child what they think about these issues. This tells you how much they know and helps you give answers they understand.

Children notice the tone of what you say as much as what you say. So don't get cross or put them down.

If you don't know the answer, say so but find out later.

Try to be truthful as stories about storks and gooseberry bushes just confuse children.

Who am I?

What is this about?

Hello, new age internet baby! As times change, so do modes of instruction and entertainment, and the contents therein. Technology brings its own set of skills to master, even if minor ones. 'Hello, net baby' is a blog to showcase my collection of websites for young children. The title of each post will indicate how good I think the site is, on a scale of 1 to 5; the post itself is in two parts - some general chatter, in black, and the 'baby' part, in blue. A postscript section will always follow with strings of thought which are best handled separate from the main post. In some cases, it may even hold the main idea!

Feel free to disregard the extra chit chat and go straight to the section on websites. Your questions, suggestions and comments are welcome.